In Spitzer's mosaic, light from stars throughout the galaxy - which stretches 100,000 light-years across - shines through. For instance, when looking up at our night skies, we see stars that are an average of 1,000 light-years away the rest are hidden.
Whereas visible light is blocked by dust, infrared light from stars and other objects can travel through dust to reach Spitzer's detectors. This infrared image reveals much more of the galaxy than can be seen in visible-light views. It consists of more than 2 million snapshots taken in infrared light over ten years, beginning in 2003 when Spitzer launched. The mosaic comes primarily from the GLIMPSE360 project, which stands for Galactic Legacy Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire. The icon in the lower right corner shows how the view changes over time, from our position in the Milky Way.
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